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When you attend financial wellness seminars or anything similar, the topics that are usually discussed are related to handling your finances. The talk or workshop typically suggests different ways to budget your income, and prioritize your expenses and look for other income sources.

One thing that’s always raised is to invest in something or to have your own business. This is because many trainers and consultants push a person to go out of their comfort zone and realize their full potential as investors or entrepreneurs.

Starting your own business is not walk in the park. It’s really difficult especially if you don’t have any experience at all. You might need the help of a business plan consultant, other professionals or even friends and relatives just to jumpstart your business. As you move on, you’ll surely run into more issues. Note that not all people are good business man. Having a business is just one option for those looking to have other income opportunities

When buying any financial product, there are typically two steps – understand the need and doing the actual purchase. In this case, I don’t intend to discuss the need for insurance; it is assumed that you understand the need that. These tips are for those who have finished the first step and are about to do the second one.

Understand Your Insurance Needs
There’s no one better understands your financial condition than yourself. Most insurance agents will say that you should get higher insurance because that’s what recommended by their ‘highly-sophisticated insurance formula’. The point here is that you know how much of your salary you can set aside for insurance in exchange for the protection guaranteed. Stick to for now that because you can adjust in the future. You don’t want to put a bulk of your money to insurance/investment product only to know that you don’t have anything left to spend for your basic needs.

Study the Company’s Background
In this time of financial turmoil, it is best to fully understand the company that’s offering insurance products to you. It is still highly recommended to avail from globally recognized institutions that have proven track records. Yes, there are some that falters, but there are still smaller companies go bankrupt. The lesson still is to fully be acquainted with the company before you engage in any kind of transaction.

Talk to Trusted and Certified Agents
You can get referral from friends who have previous relationship to certified agents. This adds more credibility to that insurance representative. Several agents can provide you insurance quotes and explain the products in a nutshell. Trusted agents though can provide finer details of each product and can recommend the one that suits you.

Study The Product Yourself
Do not be overwhelmed by the pages of the product presented to you. The more details, the better. The point is to read the features of the product carefully. Do not trust the verbal statements by your agent 100%. Take note that what are acknowledged in the end are those that are written in the document

Study Other Company’s Products – And Compare
Don’t just buy yet. It is best to conduct your own study when buying insurance. You can do this by talking to agents from different companies and ask for their recommendations and proposal. Just select the best product that the company offers and compare it to similar products offered by other businesses. It’s ideal to do a list of pros and cons so you can evaluate it better. You can also present your findings to your agent prior to actually purchasing the product.

The Republic Act that increases the maximum deposit coverage of PDIC has been approved last April 29, 2009 and published on May 17, 2009 on Philippine Star and Philippine Daily Inquirer. The date of effectivity for this act is on June 1, 2009.

Republic Act (RA) No. 9576 is an Act increasing the Maximum Deposit Coverage, and in connection therewith, to strengthen the regulatory and administrative authority, and financial capability of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation (PDIC), amending for this purpose Republic Act No. 3591, as amended, otherwise known as the PDIC Charter.

This is good news to depositors as it will boost their confidence on banks. Given that the deposits are insured at a certain amount, bank savers can look into free insurance quotes for other types of coverage.

Click to download a copy of the Act.

The 2009 list of Fortune 500 has been released. There are major changes in the rankings, though majority of the companies stayed in the list. The report stated that 38 fell off from the list, led by financial firms Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Washington Mutual Inc. and Wachovia Corp. It’s good to see the companies I’ve worked for stayed on the list.
Here’s the top 50 list. Complete list is in Fortune 500 site

1. Exxon Mobil
2. Wal-Mart Stores
3. Chevron
4. ConocoPhillips
5. General Electric
6. General Motors
7. Ford Motor
8. AT&T
9. Hewlett-Packard
10. Valero Energy
11. Bank of America Corp.
12. Citigroup
13. Berkshire Hathaway
14. International Business Machines
15. McKesson
16. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
17. Verizon Communications
18. Cardinal Health
19. CVS Caremark
20. Procter & Gamble
21. UnitedHealth Group
22. Kroger
23. Marathon Oil
24. Costco Wholesale
25. Home Depot
26. AmerisourceBergen
27. Archer Daniels Midland
28. Target
29. Johnson & Johnson
30. Morgan Stanley
31. State Farm Insurance Cos.
32. WellPoint
33. Dell
34. Boeing
35. Microsoft
36. Walgreen
37. United Technologies
38. Dow Chemical
39. MetLife
40. Goldman Sachs Group
41. Sunoco
42. Wells Fargo
43. United Parcel Service
44. Caterpillar
45. Medco Health Solutions
46. Pfizer
47. Lowe’s
48. Time Warner
49. Sears Holdings
50. Safeway

With the growing interest of people on accessories for themselves, home or cars, there’s a great opportunity in selling beadworks. There are many things that you can make using beads – bracelets, necklaces, bookmarks and a lot more. To jumpstart this venture, here are some information you may need.

Beads 101
Typically, a bead is a small object pierced for stringing or threading. Beads vary in sizes and design. There are thousands of unique bead designs available in your local shops. These beads are made up of different materials like glass, plastic, stone, gems, horn, ivory, seeds, clay, metal, bone, pearl, coral, synthetic materials and a lot more.

Beadwork is the art of making things with beads. The most common method used is to string these beads into a wire or a thread. Other ways include weaving the beads together using a specialized thread and sticking the beads on a surface, usually a cloth, wood or clay.

Products made out of beads
These are some items you can make using beads.

• Bracelet
• Curtain tassels
• Necklace
• Anklets
• Christmas, holiday decoration
• Door, window ornaments
• Scrapbooks
• Belt Buckles
• Earring
• Ornament covers

Beadwork materials
When buying beads for large scale production, it is suggested that you purchase from those promoting wholesale products to minimize your cost. If you’re just starting up, you can buy assorted beads that will fit your design. Aside from the various beads, these are the typical materials you need to start making your products. As you progress, you might need more complex

• Tassel cord
• Nylon strings
• Metal wires and cones
• Scissors
• Pliers
• Measuring tapes

References and Guides
For further reading, you can check on the following:

• Beading for Beginners
• Bead-Space – Social networking site for beaders
• The Complete Bead Guide
• Jewelry Selling Secrets, Start A Jewelry & Craft Business From Home
• Ultimate Bead Lover’s Guide
• Beading Supplies
• Beadworks Providence

A lot of people are jumping into the make money online craze to generate extra income. There really are ways to do so as claimed by successful internet personalities. I’m not a guru in this field (and I don’t have any plans), but based on my readings, one way to do so is to get more traffic and convert them into sales. This process is what they call as conversion rate optimization. If you are interested in this topic, just download an excerpt of the book here. There are other sites that offer free tips, so you just have to look around.

The popular Board Game “Cashflow” by Robert Kiyosaki is being sponsored by PMT (Pinoy Money Talk) on February 21, 2009. This is open to all interested participants. Although this is free, you should register early because slots are limited. Go to this link if you want to register.

I remembered that I’ve looked for this board game in Hobbes and Landes shop but it is out of stock and it is P15,000.00 (way out of my budget). I’d rather buy a few Swatch watches with that. At least, the watch is something  I can use. If ever I want to play Cashflow, I’ll ask for assistance from somebody else who has.

I recently had my hair rebonded for the reason that Marlon said it needs to be rebonded. It was funny and I was a bit embarrassed so I asked Merryll and Arthur if they too think I should do something for my hair and they said it’s just that I don’t comb my hair often. Hahaha! Nice friends. For typical mid-length hair, the rate is P4,000++. By ++ meaning that 4,000 is just the minimum. I tried to canvass for the lowest price but of course not wanting to compromise the quality especially that hair treatment topics scare me. I’ve heard personal experiences and negative effects of hair treatment, and I don’t want to get bald.

I wanted to try a new salon. I went to Tony and Jackie last year and was not satisfied with the service of one of their staffs. She was pouting all the time and it hurt badly when she ironed my hair. During that time, I just wished it will all end soon. I did not complain and kept my mouth shut because I don’t know what she can do further with my hair if I make a negative comment to her. Fortunately, the process took only two hours.

So now I inquired from different salons including AZTA Urban Salon, Hair Bytes, and David’s Salon. They offered me more or less P8,000 for the rebonding. Whoa! That is quite pricey. I can buy more valuable things using this amount. So I decided to look for an alternative. I rode a cab and asked the driver to take me to the nearest Reyes Haircutters Salon. He dropped me off Reyes Haircutters Anonas branch. The rebond will cost me P2,000. This is already a quarter of what I have to pay when I go to other salons. I was amazed when I saw that this salon is open 24/7! This is the first time that I saw a salon that is open 24 hours a day. And they do have lots of customers lining up. I thought maybe because the price is friendly and the quality is acceptable or above average, I’m not sure. After 5 hours of really nice and careful rebonding process, my hair was done at 11:00 p.m and even if that’s a bit late, there are still customers rushing in. Good job Reyes Haircutters! Again, I think the key is a great location.

I thought of getting my own franchise and thought of what product/service would be this good and would bring in income for me. Being a first timer, I do not want to risk huge amount for this first venture but until now I’m thinking. And oh, being fickle-minded as always, I am now thinking of cutting my hair short.

Anyway, here are few franchises for those who want to start small. These are actually priced lower compared to more popular brands out there so if you want to try one of these or just check the detailed ROI, I can refer you to the franchisor. Be a good and moral person – if you learnt this from me, hope you can make put me as the referrer ;) Contact me at 09178656199.

This is my favorite pyramid aside from the food pyramid. Read on…

“As you can see from the investment pyramid, risk varies among types of investments. Bank savings accounts, CDs and life insurance programs represent the foundation of your savings program and carry a low amount of risk, and consequently, provide a lower return on your investment. As you ascend the investment pyramid, stocks represent a higher degree risk because of the unpredictable forces that govern the rise and fall of the stock market – namely, interest rates, world events, company and industry performance, and many more.”

Click on the image to view its full size.

Reference: www.lincolninvestment.com

I have been thinking of having a business for quite some time now. There are many opportunities that present themselves to me, but I usually decline it. The reason? These businesses often require full-time work. I’m not yet comfortable giving up my day job in exchange for a something that doesn’t guarantee me constant source of income. I understand that to engage in such endeavor, risks should be fully accepted. That’s why I’m still in pursuit of other income generating opportunities that require less time and impose minimal risks.

Recently, I’ve been reading a lot about ways to earn money online, and I came across a site where Stone Evans explains Plug-In Profit Site. A lot of testimonials are posted there. I’m amazed that there really are successful people in this industry. They inspired me because most of them are actually working from home, meaning they can give more time to their family, and that’s exactly what I’m looking for. The internet has really revolutionized the way we do business. I guess it’s time to join the bandwagon.